Winter Beauty: 10 Makeup Favorites

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

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Have you noticed how winter is not a season major beauty brands deem worthy of special collections? Most of them launch plentiful limited edition makeup collections for the Holidays, and then skip straight to spring - that's why we started seeing sneak peeks of pastel spring collections in late December.

For me winter has its own unique mood, and a color scheme that doesn't have much to do with the golds of the Holidays or the warm tones of falls. Winter is the time when I like to wear cooler shades, grays, forest greens, purples, jewel tones, plums and berries, black liner, reflective highlighters and metallic eyeshadows that bring a bit of light, as well as vampy nail colors.

At the heart of winter I have gathered 10 seasonal makeup favorites that I love to wear in the cold season (although "cold" in San Diego is a relative notion). There are a few newer products that I have purchased this year and that fit perfectly into my winter makeup routine, but most have been in my stash for over a year and got worn a lot last winter too. I'll show you my favorite lipsticks for the season in a separate post: you can't ask a lipstick collector to pick only a couple. Let's take a look at my selection!

1- Too Faced Love Palette: this recent palette really didn't get as much attention as the newer Chocolate Bon Bon, and I think it deserves to be discovered. Although it was a fall launch, I think it's perfect for winter looks: the soft metallic finish of most of the shadows reflects the light beautifully but it's not over-the-top sparkly. I really like luminous makeup products to light things up in the dim, gloomy winter days, and that's exactly what I get from this palette.

2- Too Faced Love Flush Blush in Your Love Is King: another fall 2015 launch by Too Faced that I really enjoy in the winter. I like to wear deeper lipstick shades in this season, and this soft plummy rose blush balances out vampy lips really well. The soft matte finish doesn't look flat at all, it's very flattering. You can check out my full review of this blush for more details about the formula.

4- Stila Smudge Stick in Stingray: I really like Stila's Smudge Stick eyeliners because, as their name suggest, they're easy to smudge for softer lines. Stingray is a a semi-matte black, not the deepest, baddest black out there but it blends beautifully for a super easy smoky eye look. It also works well and lasts a decent amount of time on my waterlines.

5- Nars Single Eyeshadow in Malacca: Malacca is a shy beauty that doesn't want show off in swatches but reveals it's depth on the lids. It's one of those shadows that I would put in the MAC Club category: a brownish base with strong colorful reflections. In the case of Malacca, the base color is a taupe brown, and the reflections a cool, grayish blue. It's really a stunner in person on the eyes, even though it looks bland in swatches. Despite being rather sheer it's buildable and looks intense on top of a primer.

6- Estée Lauder Pure Color Nail Lacquer in Chaos: I fell hard for Estée Lauder's nail lacquers after discovering this little wonder. Chaos is a complex frozen gray with multidimensional shimmer. It may look like a classic silver in the bottle, but it's so much more than that. The quality of the polish and brush are also both outstanding.

7- theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer: this cult classic deserves all the praise! It's the perfect highlighter, in a shade of pale gold-beige, not too frosty or too warm, with super fine shimmer. It brings just the right amount of light to the skin without emphasizing pores and texture too much. If you like to brighten your face with a subtle glow, this is what you need.

8- China Glaze Nail Lacquer in Sleeping Under the Stars: deep blurple polish with subtle pink shimmer that's opaque in ONE coat. Need I say more? It was part of China Glaze's fall collection called The Great Outdoors, so it might be a little harder to find right now. But if you have a chance to grab it, don't miss it: you'll thank me later.

9- Nars Eye Paint in Baalbek: the eye paints are versatile little pots that can be used as eyeliners or cream eyeshadows. Baalbek works both ways, it's a black-brown base saturated with bronze shimmer. It looks truly beautiful whether you use is to draw sharp lines or smudge it allover the lid for a quick smoky eye.

10- ColourPop Super Shock Shadow in Lace: although it's not without its flaws (a bit tricky to blend and causing fallout) this creamy and bouncy eyeshadow is such a beautiful cool purple with blue shimmer that I can still recommend it. I've used it as a liner too and it brings a delightful pop of color to a darker look when used along the lower lashes. This one's a real stunner!

Have you tried any of those products? What are your personal makeup favorites in the winter?

Where to buy:

The products featured in this review were purchased by Lulle, except for the Too Faced products that were won in a sweepstakes hosted by Phyrra. I received no compensation to write this post, which only reflects my personal opinion. This post contains affiliate links.

Bonjour!

Lulle, 30-something, I was born and lived most of my life in France. I also spent 5 years in Istanbul, Turkey, and now reside in San Diego, California. I have a cat, Ernesto, a little rascal who traveled with me from one country to another.

Hang out here to discover the best of French beauty brands, latest trends, and reviews of both high end and drugstore cosmetics.